On Tuesday, a federal judge dismissed most counts of a $1 billion suit against the owners of the New York Mets baseball team that stemmed from the club's involvement in the Ponzi scheme.

Judge Jed Rakoff dismissed 9 of 11 charges in the case, which is being heard in U.S. District Court in New York.

Now, that money will be much harder for Irving Picard -- the trustee in the case -- to recover. And that's has thrown a wrench into Picard's calculations.

Picard said in a statement Thursday that the ruling "has raised several issues that require a thorough evaluation of the impact, if any, on the amount available for distribution."

The majority of the 16,518 investors who filed Madoff claims with the trustee have been rejected. More than 10,000 of those investors had their money in so-called feeder funds, rather than having given it directly to Madoff.

Thousands of other investors were rejected -- and some of them have also been sued by Picard -- for being "net winners." That is, they withdrew more money than they invested with Madoff.